                                      " LIMIT 1 ")
                                 [language no-older-than no-older-than (json/write-str spec)]]
                                :results)]
-      (log/debug (str (string/join "," results)))
+      (if (not (empty? results))
+        (log/debug (str "existing results:" (string/join "," results))))
       (first (map (fn [result]
                     {:surface (:surface result)
                      :structure (json-read-str (.getValue (:structure result)))})

                          spec)
        
        json-spec (json/write-str (strip-refs json-input-spec))]
    (log/debug (str "looking for expressions in language: " language " with spec: " spec))

    (let [results (db/exec-raw [(str "SELECT count(*)
                                        FROM expression 

                                     " LIMIT 1 ")
                                [language no-older-than no-older-than (json/write-str spec)]]
                               :results)]
      (log/debug (str "results for spec:" spec " : " (string/join "," results))))

    (let [results (db/exec-raw [(str "SELECT surface,structure
                                        FROM expression 
